Free Black Locust Letters by Nicolette Jinks

of all in a public place like this night. So she
went, and next she knew, she was hand-in-hand with her former
fiancé, and he was waltzing with her during jazz, a sign that
Richard Welch hadn't taken well to the cavalier
attitude.
    When
Slim came close to her, he breathed in her ear, “You haven't
responded to my letters.”
    Were
the letters from him? She stumbled, then recalled that they
couldn't be, not since she knew his handwriting so well. Even when
he tried to write better, it was still chicken scratch. And she had
gotten other notes from him, not that she'd read them.
    “ I
burned them.”
    Slim's stride checked. “You never opened them?”
    Betty glanced at where she had last seen Clarkin, but he
wasn't there. Move forward, don't let him drag you into the past,
she told herself.
    “ What do you want to say to me, James? What brought you
here?”
    Slim
grimaced. James had been his father's name, and he hated it, and
Betty knew this all too well. She didn't want him to like her. All
the better if she could make him annoyed.
    “ Your father invites you to attend dinner. Bearing in mind
your schedule, he has arranged it for three-thirty coffee and cake.
The Brick Oven.”
    Betty stopped the dance. “Very well, you've told
me.”
    “ Can
I tell your father you will meet us there?”
    “ You
can tell him whatever you wish, but I haven't made up my mind yet.”
Before he could drag on the conversation, Betty turned on her heel
and returned to the radio booth while the next song was ending, her
slight heels clacking through the hubbub.
    “ You
all right?” Richard asked, but she didn't have time to reply before
they went back on the air. She repeated a few more lines, including
the activities and a report on their goal, up to fifty percent now,
and by the time Richard ended the section with his wit and charm,
Betty was starting to overcome her shocks.
    A
temporary lull came to the admittance, so Richard prompted, “Hannah
and Slim Jim, in one night.”
    The
chill was back in his voice again.
    Betty said, “James and I were engaged. Years ago, when I was
working for Alpha Bravo Charlie. I was naive then, and he was
charming. I left James and started working here. Hannah has been
kind to me, perhaps too kind. I don't want a repeat of what
happened at Alpha.”
    Richard's face relaxed and a dawning of sorts crossed over
his features. “Ah, that explains matters. When you first moved
here, I said you'd be no good because you were an Alpha. But if you
were jumping off that ship...”
    Betty rubbed her forehead. “I don't know what I'm going to
do.” Then she told him about her father's and Slim's invitation,
and Richard grew solemn. She didn't know why she'd told him, he was
just right there at the right time, and the songs were
long.
    At
the next commercial break, nearing the end of her shift, Richard
said, “Righteo, baby girl, you listen to your big brother Richard,
and remember he can be a real dick sometimes, so keep that in mind.
This is what you're going to do. You're going to get a good car
home. You're going to lock up all the doors and windows, then
you're going to get clean and take a good, long hot bath. Sleep. Go
to work. Act normal.
    “ Then you go home again, clean up, and you go to your daddy's
dinner and you open your ears and keep your tongue sealed to the
roof of your mouth. Once you've heard what he's gotta say, you need
to stop doggy paddling in the ocean, and you've gotta climb aboard
a ship. Pick the Alpha, or pick the Tango. There ain't but two
choices because the land's too far away to swim to, hotcakes, and
anyone who doesn't board a boat is going to sink long 'fore the
cannons start firing.”
    Betty went cold all the way through to the core. “What are
you saying?”
    But
he spared her a sad smile and went back on the air, waving her
farewell.
    Betty left, called out for a taxi, and confirmed the name at
pick-up. She stared back at the town hall as they left. She hadn't
seen Slim